Method for changing the dimensions of an electronically stored image

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a method for changing the dimensions of an electronically stored image which is composed of individual objects that are arranged below or next to one another or that fully or partially overlap one another, in which the image is changed in at least one horizontal or vertical image dimension and at least some of the individual objects are changed in at least one horizontal or vertical object dimension and the change in the object dimension is sometimes not necessarily proportional to the change in the image dimension. This method is currently carried out manually. Automatic implementation is achieved by the invention in that in order to automatically arrange and change the size of the individual objects in the event of a change in the horizontal and/or vertical image dimension, object properties are assigned to each individual object via a data processing program that runs on a data processing system, these object properties are stored in a memory and a change in the size and/or position of the individual objects is carried out via the data processing program, wherein the object properties define a changeability of the individual objects.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/979,984 filed on Nov. 3, 2004 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,711,208 whichclaims priority to German Application No. 10352341.3 filed Nov. 6, 2003,the entireties of which are herein incorporated by reference.

STATEMENT RE: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH/DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND

The invention relates to a method for changing the dimensions of anelectronically stored image which is composed of individual objects thatare arranged below or next to one another or that fully or partiallyoverlap one another, in which the image is changed in at least onehorizontal or vertical image dimension and at least some of theindividual objects are changed in at least one horizontal or verticalobject dimension and the change in the object dimension is sometimes notnecessarily proportional to the change in the image dimension.

Methods for changing the dimensions of an electronically stored image ofthis type are known in general from the field of advertising. They areused to adapt the image to the various formats for example of anewspaper following the creation of a layout as a model for creating aprint copy.

For instance, for example the column widths and lengths of various dailynewspapers differ from one another, so that the same image cannot beused without modification. Furthermore, usually a whole series ofadvertisements is planned. In a magazine, for example, half a page maybe booked as an advertisement feature. By contrast, in a national dailynewspaper, a smaller and thus less expensive advertisement may bebooked, for example in the format “third of a page, edgeways”. In alocal newspaper, on the other hand, the whole page is booked, and inanother newspaper an advertisement in the format “two-thirds of a page,edgeways”.

In the known methods, following creation of the image for the basiclayout using commercially available DTP programs, the image is adaptedto the various sizes. For this, the individual elements of the image arescaled and converted manually, and this not only leads to a great outlayon staff but also entails a less reproducible result. Furthermore, eachadvertisement must be released individually or else every conceivableformat must be prepared prior to presentation of the project.

BRIEF SUMMARY

A method for changing the dimensions of an electronically stored imagewhich is composed of individual objects that are arranged below or nextto one another or that fully or partially overlap one another, in which:the image is changed in at least one horizontal or vertical imagedimension; at least some of the individual objects are changed in atleast one horizontal or vertical object dimension; and the change in theobject dimension is sometimes not necessarily proportional to the changein the image dimension characterized in that in order to automaticallyarrange and change the size of the individual objects in the event of achange in the horizontal and/or vertical image dimension, objectproperties are assigned to each individual object via a data processingprogram that runs on a data processing system. These object propertiesare stored in a memory and a change in the size and/or position of theindividual objects is carried out via the data processing program,wherein the object properties define a changeability of the individualobjects.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the various embodimentsdisclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the followingdescription and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like partsthroughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 a-I illustrates a portion of a flowchart of an example campaignin which an advertisement page is scaled;

FIG. 1 a-II illustrates a further portion of the flowchart of theexample campaign in which the advertisement page is scaled;

FIG. 1 b-I illustrates a further portion of the flowchart of the examplecampaign in which the advertisement page is scaled;

FIG. 1 b-II illustrates a further portion of the flowchart of theexample campaign in which the advertisement page is scaled;

FIG. 1 c-I illustrates a further portion of the flowchart of the examplecampaign in which the advertisement page is scaled;

FIG. 1 c-II illustrates a further portion of the flowchart of theexample campaign in which the advertisement page is scaled;

FIG. 1 c-III illustrates a further portion of the flowchart of theexample campaign in which the advertisement page is scaled; and

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a method in whichautomated adaptation of the size of an image to various predefinedformats is possible by means of a data processing system 100, as shownin FIG. 2.

This object is achieved according to the invention in that in order toautomatically arrange and change the size of the individual objects inthe event of a change in the horizontal and/or vertical image dimension,object properties are assigned 100 to each individual object via a dataprocessing program that runs on a data processing system, these objectproperties are stored 120 in a memory and a change 130 in the sizeand/or position of the individual objects is carried out via the dataprocessing program, wherein the object properties define a changeabilityof the individual objects.

By virtue of the configuration of the method according to the invention,each object of the image is now assigned at least one object property.Usually, a number of object properties will be defined which thendetermine how the object behaves in the event of a necessary change insize.

In one preferred embodiment of the method, firstly a rough adaptation ofthe image to the available space is carried out. For this purpose, asalready known in the case of windows of operating systems by pulling atone of the corners of the window, a proportional increase or reduction140 in size of the image is carried out so that it is adapted in onedimension—height or width.

Now the image will either be too large or too small in the seconddimension, depending on the starting format. This adaptation is thencarried out automatically via a data processing program. The dataprocessing program runs on a data processing system, wherein the termdata processing system is to be understood as meaning not onlyindividual computers but also networks in which the individualcomponents are installed on various computers.

In order to adapt the size of the image, the image is regarded as beingcomposed of a number of individual objects. These individual objects areassigned the object properties which prevent the image from beingdistorted in the event of an increase or reduction in size of the image.The method will be described below in the case of an increase in size ofan image during the second method step following proportional adaptationto the first dimension, with the method being carried out in ananalogous manner in the case of a reduction in size.

The simplest way would be to increase the size of all objects by thefactor needed to fill the gaps. However, in most cases this would leadto uncontrolled superposition of the individual objects with one anotheror to growth beyond the edges. For this reason, the dimensions of theindividual objects are preferably changed only in the direction in whichthe increase in size is required. The object properties define,depending on the presets and type of individual object, how this growthon one side is to take place without the individual object becomingdistorted.

Firstly, the object properties may bring about for example for eachindividual object a proportional increase in size and displacement ofthe then grown individual objects inwards, in order to prevent anindividual object from growing out over the edge. However, puredisplacement of the objects will usually not suffice; rather, theindividual objects are then pushed on top of one another in the regionof the centre of the image. For this reason, at least some of theindividual objects have to be exclusively or at least predominantlyincreased in size in one direction.

If the individual object is an image, this may be achieved simply bydefining an edge region which can be cut off if necessary. Thus,preferably when the image is created, a photograph is selected asindividual object whose edge region is large enough to have a definedtolerance range which can be cut off if the image has to be reduced insize or can be added to if the image has to be increased in size. Thelatter case is of course only possible if the image is created usingindividual objects of which only an inner area is used for the actualimage. If, on the other hand, the object properties are allocatedsubsequently, of course no further area can be added. In this case, theindividual object would advantageously have to be firstly enlargedproportionally in both dimensions and then trimmed on one side.

The text components of the image are also composed as an individualobject. In this case, however, cutting of this individual object is notpossible, so that either this individual object behaves like a text boxof a commercially available text processing program, that is to say thetext can be converted within the frame, in particular can be reformattedto the new space conditions. This reformatting may consist in a simpleadaptation of the line spacing, the character spacing or the font size.

Preferably, however, an alternative text may also be stored, so that ashorter text variant can be selected if a minimum size is not reached.This prevents the text from becoming illegible as a result of thereduction in size. A replacement object may also be provided for otherindividual objects, so that a smaller image or a larger image isavailable for instance in the case of graphics. Alternatively, a textmay also be reduced in size in that some passages of the text are markedas dispensable and the individual object is composed of various parts,wherein the object properties contain the information that individualparts of the individual object may be omitted if it has to be greatlyreduced in size.

The object properties may comprise a blocking data for some individualobjects, which indicates that an object cannot be changed in terms ofits size. This option may be selected for example in the case of acompany logo which should always retain the same size over the entirerange of the change in size of the overall image.

The individual objects may be drawn inwards not only by simpledisplacement. It is furthermore also possible to displace the individualobjects relative to any reference point, which may also be part ofanother individual object. For example, an image may have threephotographs arranged next to one another as individual objects, whereinwhen this image is reduced in size, the photographs are not pushedtogether but rather the two outer individual objects migrate downwardson a circular path, so that a triangular arrangement exists after thechange in size.

Preferably, the object properties of at least one partially superposableindividual object comprise a superposition data which defines an area ofthe individual object that may be superposed by other objects when theobjects are pushed together. In order not to allow all the individualobjects to superpose at will, the object properties of the partiallysuperposable individual object may comprise one or more reference datawhich indicates which other individual object is able to superpose thepartially superposable individual object.

Usually, an image will contain part-areas which can be easily reduced insize and part-areas which should be reduced in size only if reallynecessary. The data processing program can take this into account in apreference data, wherein the preference data of all the individualobjects define a ranking which indicates in which order the individualobjects are changed on the basis of the remaining object properties.Thus, individual objects with a low preference are change to a greaterextent in terms of their size than individual object with a highpreference. The preference data may also lead to a hierarchical changeso that firstly the individual objects with a low preference aremodified and only later are those with a high preference modified. Acombination of hierarchical order and a growth in size at the same timebut to varying extents is also possible.

Some of the individual objects may be purely filler objects of a largeimage, wherein the object properties comprise the data that the fillerobject may be omitted if a critical reduction in the size of the imageis reached. This may occur in particular in the case of vary largefluctuations in size with many text components, since otherwise thelegibility of the text could be at risk.

As background of the image, there may be a background image which issuperposed by other individual objects Like the other objects, thebackground object is an individual object which is provided withbackground properties which define the change in the background objectin the event of a change in its size. This may occur for example in thatthe background consists of unchangeable background elements which arearranged next to and/or below one another, wherein the backgroundelements arranged at the edge are trimmed to the current size of theimage.

In a further preferred embodiment of the method, the image is divided150 (see FIG. 2) into horizontal and/or vertical areas, wherein eacharea is assigned 150 (see FIG. 2) an area parameter which defines anextent of the ability of the area to change its size, wherein in theevent of a change in the size of the image firstly the sizes of theareas are defined on the basis of the extents of the ability to changesize and then within the areas the individual objects arranged thereinare adapted in terms of their size to the size of the area. This leadsfirstly to a rough planning of the image and makes it possible foraccount to be taken of image areas which are relatively inflexible ornot flexible at all.

For example, it may be that the upper half of an image can be increasedin size without any problems while the lower half almost exclusivelycontains individual objects which can hardly or not at all be changed.If, then, each area of the image were to be increased in sizeproportionally in the same way, this would lead to problems in the lowerarea. It may also be that both the lower and a relatively narrow upperregion can be greatly increased in size while there is an area in themiddle whose size should not be changed. The division of the image intoareas can be used here for example to displace the rigid area as awhole.

The area parameter can be manually predefined 160 (see FIG. 2) when theimage is created or else subsequently. A further variant consists inallowing the area parameter to be calculated 160 (see FIG. 2) via thedata processing program on the basis of the object properties assignedto each individual object. In this case, the data processing programwill firstly determine for each area a minimum area size by changing thesize of the individual objects according to the principles describedabove, then will determine a maximum area size and then, based on a meanvalue from the minimum and maximum area size, will reduce the size ofthe areas in steps until the areas cover the desired surface area of theimage, wherein once the area sizes have been defined the objectsarranged in the areas are adapted in terms of their size.

The object properties may comprise a demand option which means thatduring processing by the software a window is opened via which a user ofthe data processing system can change the preset object properties onceagain in order to subsequently affect the change in size in order todefine the object properties. The demand option may be activated in theevent of a change in size of the individual object or by the user bymeans of an input, in particular by clicking on the individual objectusing a computer mouse.

The method according to the invention is preferably used to spaceadvertisements starting from a basic image of a campaign. For thispurpose, the data processing program preferably has predefined imagesizes which correspond to standard sizes in print media. The objectproperties are preferably defined immediately when the image is created.However, they may also be added later, for example once the image hasbeen imported into the data processing program. The object propertiesmay be stored in the image as additional information, but willpreferably be stored in a separate parameter file.

Furthermore, the individual objects may be stored in such a parameterfile while the image contains only a framework which is filled with theindividual objects following size modification. The data processingprogram may be designed as a plug-in program for implementation in acommercially available graphics program, in particular a DTP program.For instance, an additional module may train conventional DTP softwareto automatically carry out size adaptation.

A method according to the invention is used for example in anadvertisement booking system in which the image is created using agraphics program which runs on a data processing system integrated in anetwork. Usually, the image firstly contains only a framework, while theindividual objects are stored in a catalogue file. A parameter file,which may be identical to the catalogue file, contains the informationas to which individual object is arranged where. The image file thuscreated can be transmitted via the network to a printing preparationstation, wherein once the image file has been created in the graphicsprogram, the size of the image on which the image file is based can beadapted to commercial column or page dimensions of print media inaccordance with the method described above.

Further features and advantages of the invention will emerge from thedependent claims and from the following description of an example ofembodiment with reference to the drawing.

FIG. 1 a-I to FIG. 1 c-III shows, in the form of a flow chart, anexample campaign in which an advertisement page is scaled using themethod according to the invention.

In a step 1 a, firstly a general scaling direction is defined in whichthe image can be stretched. The direction orthogonal thereto is takeninto account beforehand via a pure increase or reduction in size of theimage. If, for example, as in the example shown, the width of the imageis adapted via the increase in size of the image, it must be expanded interms of its length in order to be able to use up the available space orto be adapted to the available height.

In step 1 b, each individual object is assigned a parameter whichindicates how the individual object will behave in the event of anincrease in height by .delta. mm. In step 2 a, the image elements in theobject are then inserted. For this purpose, use is made of the parameterwhich the creator of the image has defined beforehand.

Here, images may be changed in terms of their size or even trimmed inorder not to allow individual parts of the image to become so small thatthey look unpleasant or can no longer be seen. Conversely, it is alsopossible for an image to be greatly increased in size by for example anadditional image section being added.

In step 2 b, text elements are then inserted. For this purpose,different variations are available; in particular, the size of the textcan be adapted via the line spacing. Furthermore, the font size can beused to prevent line or character spacings from becoming too great.

Once the individual objects have been adapted to the available space,and if necessary have been displaced, the overall image can be completedas an advertisement model.

1. A method for changing the dimensions of an electronically storedimage, the electronically stored image being composed of individualobjects that are arranged below or next to one another or that fully orpartially overlap one another, in which the electronically stored imageis changed in at least one horizontal or vertical image dimension and atleast some of the individual objects are changed in at least onehorizontal or vertical object dimension, the method comprising:assigning object properties to each individual object using a dataprocessing program that operates on a data processing system, the objectproperties being assigned for arranging and changing the size of theindividual objects in the event of a change in the horizontal and/orvertical image dimension; and storing the object properties in a memorymodule, the object properties define a changeability of the individualobjects; wherein (1) at least some individual objects are drawingobjects and text objects, wherein the object properties additionallycomprise a boundary data which defines a tolerance range, wherein thechange in size of the drawing object also takes place by cutting off oradding an edge area to at least one side of the drawing object; (2) theobject properties of at least one partially superposable individualobject comprise a superposition data which defines an area of theindividual object that may be superposed by other objects; (3) the textobjects individual passages are provided with a dispensable attribute,wherein passages provided with the dispensable attribute are deleted ifa maximum reduction in size is reached; (4) at least some individualobjects are filler objects, wherein the object properties comprise thedata that the filler object may be omitted if a critical reduction inthe size of the image is reached; (5) at least one background object issuperposed by other individual objects and is provided with backgroundproperties which define the change in the background object in the eventof a change in its size; (6) the image is divided into horizontal and/orvertical areas, each area is assigned an area parameter which defines anability of the area to change its size, in the event of a change in thesize of the image the sizes of the areas are defined on the basis of theability to change size and then within the areas the individual objectsarranged therein are adapted in terms of their size to the size of thearea; or (7) combinations thereof.